The Face of President Sarkozy

Since he came to power, President Sarkozy has threatened, or brought, no less than five civil actions in the courts concerning abuse of his image.

Whilst most French commentators are prepared to concede that one of the cases was probably justified, the feeling is widespread that the feisty President should have shown more restraint. 1253 No fewer than three of the cases have been brought in the last few months, but it seems even the President of the Republic cannot always rely on the support of the courts to share his view that there has been a breach of the law. The latest case concerned a voodoo doll created in his image, which the thin-skinned President sought to have withdrawn from circulation. His lawyers claimed that it was a ‘misuse of is image’ but a court in Paris was dismissive of the whole affair, concluding that it was all harmless fun, and that the ‘non-authorised representation of the image of Nicolas Sarkozy neither constituted an affront on the human dignity (of the President) nor a personal attack.’ Although the President has appealed against the court decision, the doll has remained on sale in the shops. A few weeks ago, the personal diary notes of the former head of the French intelligence service found their way into the press, which alleged, amongst other things, that Sarkozy had been constructing a property in a suburb of Paris using unregistered labour. The President immediately launched a civil action against Yves Betrand, the former head of the intelligence service, for dénonciation calomnieuse. One of the most notorious cases brought by Sarkozy was last January, when he and his wife Carla Bruni brought a legal action against Ryanair for using a photo of them in a publicity campaign. The President and his wife evidently did not appreciate the joke in the advert (Avec Ryanair, toute ma famille peut venir assister à mon mariage) and sued for €500,000. They were awarded €60,000 by the French court. Within a month of this case the President brought another legal action against the French periodical le Nouvel Observateur for having published on its web site an SMS message the President is alleged to have sent to his ex wife Cécilia, eight days before his marriage to Carla Bruni. The message is alleged to have stated 'Si tu reviens, j'annule tout' ('If you come back I will cancel everything'). As the paper eventually withdrew the allegation and presented its apologies, the President withdrew the legal action. In May of this year, the lawyer President was at it again, when he instructed a civil action against a company in the Savoie for having printed T-shirts emblazoned with the words of Sarkozy tolérance zéro, with the ‘o’ in Sarkozy having been transformed into a target with 50 points in it. As far as we are aware, the case has not yet been concluded. Sarkozy once famously used the phrase tolérance zéro in describing his stance on the urban riots in France during 2005. It is clear that the President has similar feelings about the portrayal of his image in public.

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